New York Expressive Arts has been providing opportunities for personal development and community-building through the expressive arts for over 20 years. Central to our mission is addressing individual and societal needs by incorporating feeling, intuition, imagination and creative thinking into daily life.
Founded by Markus Alexander in 1986 as Glass Lake Studio, we are now known as New York Expressive Arts, under the direction of Denie Whalen. Although our home base is in Albany, N.Y., the outreach of our community is far and wide.
Through professional training, workshops, community outreach programs and individual and group work, we create opportunities for using the arts as a way of opening to deeper dimensions of life and the universal need for self-expression. We are focused on bringing people together to counteract the isolation in our communities. We believe that the expressive arts are a natural vehicle in this process, enabling society to benefit from the unique talents and perspectives that each individual can contribute.
“My grandchildren teach me so much about the value of the arts. What I enjoy is watching them at play ( their work) and how that approach to being in the world can be a seamless entry into art making. I notice how their growing up in a non-judgmental environment that nurtures playful art making, where art materials are readily available and their work is cherished shapes their capacity to wholeheartedly encounter their world and creatively navigate their way. For them, making art is a natural and joyful part of their everyday life.”
Addendum: Here is a little update on my thinking a few years later when the older grandchildren have been in school for a few years.
They are learning many things, most wonderful. However I do see that ideas of doing things in the so-called ‘right way’ are entering their life and I observe that this attitude shows up in the way they approach the art materials in the studio. They are still little explorers yet they are beginning to plan their painting, asking to draw with pencil on the paper before they paint, going for some idea that is stored in their brain, trying to match it somehow. I wonder….do I stand back and allow those impulses to play out, or perhaps it would be best to guide or suggest a freer playful approach to the paint? I am challenged to find a balance between hands on and hands off. To my great delight, once in while, given an expressive structure, they take off into the wild blue yonder, leaving behind the need to make something to take home, which I read as something “good” or “praiseworthy”. I suggest making some free-form shapes on the paper with oil pastel and then covering everything with water color. A painting of mysterious depth and fanciful creatures emerges. They seem delighted. As my grandchildren continue to learn technique and develop skill, my desire for them is that they maintain the capacity to return to a natural and innocent approach to art making – something we are all born with.
— Denie Whalen, New York Expressive Arts director
